


Pretending I'm A Superman

by siriuslywinchester



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Student AU, University AU, freshers au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-17
Updated: 2015-04-17
Packaged: 2018-03-23 10:15:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3764344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/siriuslywinchester/pseuds/siriuslywinchester
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU In which Merlin is a Fresher at University and Arthur is a returning second year.  They both head to the Student Union with the friends and a chance encounter ends in them getting a tad more drunk than they intended.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pretending I'm A Superman

Merlin's first day at university had gone by in a blur. People were welcoming him and trying to befriend him constantly, but names and faces slipped from his mind as soon as their owners walked away. Flyers and leaflets were being thrust upon him everywhere he went, advertising sports teams and societies as well as night clubs and hot spots. He'd barely had time to unpack his belongings from his mother's car before he was dragged away to meet 'this absolute legend' who had climbed a tree and stuck all of another poor boys underwear in the branches.

As the evening approached, Merlin had locked himself inside his room, sorting through his cases and unpacking clothing. His room was fairly small, but it had an en-suite bathroom, so he could put his wash things in there without having to worry about finding space for a wash bag. The single bed in the corner of the room was lumpy and squeaked when you sat on it, but it would do. It was better than Merlin had expected.

With his unpacking finished, he walked towards his room door and opened it, shoving the doorstop underneath to hold it open so that the other Freshers in his flat would know he was in.

Immediately another student barged into his room.

"Hey, I'm Mordred," he said, holding out his hand, "You coming to the union tonight? Fancy dress party. Free entry for freshers!"

"Merlin," he replied, shaking Mordred's hand, "Sounds good, I suppose. What are you dressing as?"

"I'm going as a knight," Mordred replied, thrusting his chest out and placing his hands on his hips, "I'm gonna make a sword and breastplate out of a cardboard box and then just tie a sheet around me like a cloak."

The boy shrugged, clearly not having planned to dress up. Merlin, meanwhile had a whole box of fancy dress outfits purposely prepared for occasions such as this.

"I have a superman outfit," he told the man who had now invited himself intp Merlin's room and was examining his posters, "I'll probably wear that."

"Cool!" Mordred said, standing again, "Well I'm off to round everyone else up. Get ready and come join us in the kitchen for pre-drinks!"

He grinned as he left, waving as he walked out of the door leaving Merlin to stare after him.

Merlin turned to his wardrobe and opened the doors, pulling out a box that he'd stuffed on the top shelf. It was overflowing with bits and bobs that he had collected over the years - feather hats, pirates hats, glasses, beads, police badges - and he knew that what he was looking for was stored at the bottom.

He reached into the box, rummaging around until he felt the lycra material between his fingers and pulled it upwards. The plastic guns and replica models from various different costumes clattered into the bottom of the box, but eventually Merlin was stood with a Superman costume held out before him.

It was a little dusty from having lay at the bottom of the box for so long, but after a quick brush down it looked fine. Merlin was a little bit nervous about the fact he'd be meeting people for the first time in skin tight lyrca which let _everything_ show, but at least he'd be wearing a mask so hopefully people wouldn't recognise him.

\-----

Arthur had returned to University a few weeks early, along with his housemates, to settle back in and have a few extra weeks of alcohol consumption before the hard work started. He'd spent the day - along with Leon and Percy, his housemates - watching the freshers arrive and giving them all wrong directions so they would end up lost. They'd returned to the house as dinner time approached to prepare for a night at the union.

They'd bought a set of superhero costumes purposefully for the Fresher's party and they had written the names of each of the heroes onto pieces of paper to pick out of a hat to see who who wear each outfit.

"OK, Morgana and Gwen first because they're the ladies," Arthur shouted as held out one of his old beanies with the pieces of paper in.

They'd all had a few drinks by this point and Morgana and Gwen each dipped their hands into the hat giggling. Morgana was first to pull her hand out, unfolding the piece of paper with a nervous look in her eyes.

"Yes!" she exclaimed, excitedly bouncing on her toes as she turned the paper around for her friends to see, "Cat Woman!"

"Oooh, I got The Flash," Gwen said, also showing her piece of paper before placing it on the table to pour herself another glass of vodka.

"You next, Percy," Arthur said, thrusting the hat underneath his nose as he poured half a can of cheap beer down his throat.

Percy grabbed the first piece of paper he touched and opened it quickly, flicking it onto the table as soon as he'd read it.

"Read it and weep, boys," he grinned, "Da-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na BATMAN!"

Leon placed his hand into the hat and pulled out one of the two remaining characters.

"Green lantern," he said, half deflated at the thought of having to carry a lantern around with him all night, but glad that he hadn't picked the remaining option.

"Well we know what that means, don't we," Morgana said, grinning mischievously at Arthur.

"Bloody Superwoman," he replied, dropping the hat and opening another can of beer with one hand, "You'd better lend me some of your heels, Morgana. If i'm doing it, I'm doing it properly."

\-----

Now that Merlin was dressed in his Superman suit, he was slightly concerned that it was a little too revealing. The mask carefully covered his eyes, but his cheekbones and fluffy dark hair were, at least to himself, very recognisable. He was wearing three pairs of underwear just to make sure that any lumps and bumps were well held in - the last thing he wanted was to be remembered as the guy with lumpy lycra genitals.

"You ready, Mer..." Mordred stuck his head around Merlin's room door and looked him up and down, "Wow! Tight"

His new friend laughed, striding into the room wearing black skinny jeans and cardboard armour. He had a red sheet tied to the front of the breastplate and Merlin couldn't help but think that Mordred would probably be coming home topless.

"That's not your only bed sheet is it?" Merlin asked, immediately regretting how much he sounded like his own mother.

"Yea, but it doesn't matter," Mordred replied, throwing a beer across the room to Merlin, "I have a duvet. That's the main thing, right?"

Merlin cracked open the beer and took a long swig. It was cheap branded stuff and taste vile but it would get him drunk, and the sooner he was drunk, the sooner he'd feel comfortable in his outfit.

"You should come and meet the rest of the guys," Mordred said, gesturing for Merlin to follow him out into the corridor, "There's five of us, they're alright."

Merlin followed Mordred down the corridor that separated the five rooms and entered the kitchen. Inside were two girls and another guy who seemed a little older the rest of the group.

One of the girls immediately stood up and walked over to Merlin, her hand outstretched and a smile on her face. Merlin noticed that she deliberately kept eye contact, whereas the other two strangers eyes were drawn straight to his crotch. 

Flushing, Merlin removed his mask and smiled at his new flatmates.

"I'm Merlin," he said, shaking the hand of the girl who stood before him.

"Freya," she replied before turning around and gesturing at the two who remained seated at the table, "And that's Tristan and Isolde."

Merlin waved, standing awkwardly in the doorway, sipping at the beer that Mordred had given him. Neither Tristan or Isolde were dressed in fancy dress, but Freya was wearing a long white dress that resembled a robe and had golden bracelets around her wrists. Her outfit was topped with a golden band that wrapped around her hair and Merlin assumed this made her some sort of Goddess.

"Are you not dressing up, then?" Merlin asked looking back towards Tristan and Isolde.

They both shook their heads.

"Nah," Tristan answered, "I'm a bit old for partying with Freshers. I'm only staying in halls because Isolde wanted me to. We're a couple."

He looked lovingly into the younger woman's eyes and shared a kiss that embarrassed everybody else in the room. Mordred raised his eyebrows at Merlin and nodded his head in a gesture that they should leave them to it.

"Soooo," Freya said, walking slightly ahead of them, "Shall we just head over to the union now? It's not that early, and we don't actually even know the way. I'm not sure I want to be in when they get a bit friskier."

Merlin and Mordred agreed, both cringing at the the thought, and closed their room doors ensuring their ID was safely in their pockets before following Freya out of the building, still clutching their drinks.

\-----

"It won't go," Morgana said, gritting her teeth as she gave one more tug.

The zip on Arthur's Superwoman suit wouldn't budge. He'd managed to get the one piece suit over his hips and shoulders, but the two sides of the zipper just wouldn't reach together to zip up.

"Gwen, you try," Arthur said, turning around and hoping that the other woman would have more strength.

Gwen placed her drink on Arthur's desk and guided him to stand in front of the bed. She climbed up onto the bed and bent forward to pull the string on the zipper upwards. 

It wouldn't budge. 

The material was chaffing Arthur's crotch and the area of skin around the zip had caught so many time it was already raw and painful.

"This is a bloody disaster," Arthur grumbled as Gwen gave up her attempts and climbed back off the bed. 

Gwen and Morgana had been ready for a while, waiting for the boys to come out of their rooms and show themselves in their tight fighting hero suits. When Arthur had finally emerged, he'd turned around to reveal a lot of blonde back hair that needed to be zipped over. They knew that he was a perfectionist - he'd refuse to leave the house until the zip was done up. 

"Where's Leon and Percy?" Arthur said, "They'll be able to do it."

"I think you're just too fat, Arthur," Morgana said and both girls burst into a fit of giggles.

"What are you lot laughing at?" Leon asked, emerging Lantern first into the room, which caused the girls to laugh even more.

"Leon, there you are," Arthur almost shouted, "Zip me up, will you. These two are too weak."

Arthur turned his back to Leon, who carefully placed the lantern on the floor before grabbing the zip and trying to pull it upwards.

He tried with both hands, huffing and puffing. The zip slid up slightly, but not far enough and as soon as Arthur took a breath, it unzipped again.

"You're too muscly," Leon said, "It won't zip. Not without ripping the outfit."

"Muscly?" Arthur asked, frowning, "Well I supposed it's better than 'fat'."

"Well, not as muscly as Percy, obviously," Leon said, blushing slightly at the thought of how skinny he was compared to the two guys he lived with, "He'd probably be able to zip you up."

As if summoned by his name, Percy appeared out of his room clad fully in black lycra, already wearing the batman mask.

"You called?" he said, striking a pose and flexing his arm muscles.

"Yea," Arthur said, ignoring the show that both of the girls were swooning over, "Can you do this zip up?"

"Sure," Percy said, taking the zip and yanking it upwards easily.

The zip hit the catch at the top and when Arthur finally braved a breath, it didn't come undone.

"Thank you," Arthur said, adjusting the material to give his crotch a little more room, "Finally somebody who is competent with zipping."

"Don't forget the shoes," Morgana said, pointing back at the blue heels she had delivered to Arthur's room earlier, "And don't break them. I like them."

Arthur waddled back to his bed and bent over, hoping the outfit wouldn't tear while he slid into Morgana's shoes. He was surprised to find that they fit him well and for the most part were fairly comfortable.

"Right," Morgana squealed, clapping her hands, "Are we _finally_ ready to go now?"

"Yes!" came the chorus of cheers from her housemates.

And they headed out of the front door, Gwen locking it behind her before joining in the conga line that Percy had instigated out of the garden in the direction of the Student Union.

\-----

Merlin had lost Freya and Mordred in the crowded club. The pair of them had been flirting the entire walk to the union, whilst Merlin had been trying to use the map on his phone to figure out the correct directions. As soon as they'd entered the club, the crowd had swallowed them up and Merlin had been wandering around looking for them ever since. He had a fair idea of where they might be, but he wasn't going to interrupt them if they were there.

It was hot in the club and the lycra suit he was wearing was beginning to make him sweat. He decided to fight his way to the bar to quench his thirst and then resume his search for Freya and Mordred. 

Nearly everyone in the venue was in fancy dress, and although he'd had a lot of high fives and spanks, he'd yet to recognise a single face from those he had met during the day. 

When he finally got to the bar, he asked for a JD and coke whilst pulling a straw from the batch that were there for the taking. He dropped it between the ice cubes in his drink and wandered over to the balcony above the dance floor, taking careful sips as he went.

From on top of the balcony, he could see the entire floor below him. It was heaving with bodies, all jumping in time with the beat from a song Merlin had never heard before. There were so many people and the lights were flashing so furiously that he couldn't make out whether his friends were in the throng or not. He decided his best bet was to keep the spot on the balcony and finish his drink, hoping that he'd spot someone he knew before the night ended.

\-----

Arthur was breathless. The dance floor was so crowded he had no choice but to jump up and down to the beat with the rest of the students. It was fun, but he really wanted a drink. Morgana and Percy had disappeared shortly after they had entered the club and Gwen had gone to get drinks what seemed like ages ago but not yet returned. Leon was having far too much fun, waving his lantern in the air and 'ooha ooha'ing every time there was a gap in the song.

Glancing around to see if any of the people around were people he knew, Arthur realised that he really was in a sea of freshers. He'd wanted to come to the Freshers party because he knew it would be busy and a perfect time to eye up some of the new students that would be around campus, but he hadn't signed up for being crushed against his will.

He looked up to see if Morgana, Percy or Gwen were on the balcony but he couldn't see them. As his eyes moved upwards, he realised how drunk he was. His vision blurred and his head spun in a way that he weirdly enjoyed. He grabbed onto Leon to steady himself, and the red-haired man wrapped his arms around Arthur's shoulders, chanting some nonsense which some of the Freshers joined in with.

"Hey Leon!" Arthur yelled, hoping his friend could hear him, "Look up there."

Arthur pointed, a huge grin spread across his face. Leon looked at him and gave him a thumbs up, clearly not having heard a word he said. Arthur looked back up at the balcony and waved to the guy he saw that was wearing a Superman suit. He knew it was the alcohol that got him excited about a guy wearing the male version of the suit he was wearing, but it _was_ the first night of term. He was allowed to get completely smashed and make new friends.

"I must go, Leon," Arthur shouted into his friends ear, "My fellow Super-human needs me!"

And with that he pointed his arm ahead of him in a typical superman pose and pushed his way out of the crowd to the staircase.

\-----

Someone was waving at Merlin. He had no idea who it was, but there was nobody behind him, so it was _definitely_ Merlin that they were waving at. He waved back nervously, a little worried he was the butt of some joke. The person leaned over to talk to their friend and then suddenly barged their way out of the crowd.

Merlin placed his empty glass on the ledge of the balcony and turned to watch the man walk up the spiral staircase that led from the dance floor to the balcony. He realised now why he had waved. The man - and he was fairly certain it was a man from the width of the shoulders - was wearing a Superwoman suit which matched his own.

"Superman!" the guy said as he arrived in front of Merlin, "I must insist that we do shots together!"

He didn't wait for Merlin to reply before scooping him off his feet and carrying him, much like a groom would carry his bridge over the threshold, to the bar.

"Shots please, Barkeep", the guy shouted, placing Merlin carefully back on the floor and hitting the bar with his hand.

The girl behind the bar poured two full shot glasses and slid them over. Superwoman passed one to Merlin and started counting down. When the countdown was complete, they both threw their heads back, grimacing as the drink hit their throats. 

"More!" he shouted, slapping Merlin on the back.

Merlin watched again as the girl poured more shots. He grinned at the guy who handed him one, clinking their glasses before forcing himself to drink it again.

"Keep them coming," Superwoman man shouted, "I'm going to prove that women can drink more than men!"

Merlin laughed then, fully aware that there was no way his scrawny little body could hold more alcohol than the man before him dressed in the female suit. 

_I'll give it a bloody good shot though_ , Merlin thought as he down another shot.

\--

The next morning, Arthur awoke with a dry mouth and a pounding headache. He opened his eyes, but found sunlight flooding through thin curtains and shut them again as the pain stabbed through his skull.

"Urgh," he groaned, rolling over onto his back.

"Mmmmm," he heard the moan sometime before he registered the arm that was laid across his chest.

The body that was attached to the arm was laid half on top of him, a thin leg between his own, the torso pressed against his side. He didn't have to look to know that they were both naked. 

Arthur smiled to himself, opening his eyes slowly to see who he'd managed to end up in bed with this time. Looking down, he saw a mess of short brown hair and a mans face laid on his chest.

Confused, Arthur tried to shuffle out from underneath the man he'd accidentally ended up in bed with, but the stranger clung to him, snoring lightly and dreamily stroking Arthur's chest hair.

Looking at the floor around the bed Arthur saw the two Super suits laying in shreds. Both looked to have been torn off and flung without much care.

Arthur groaned again, hitting his head against the wall behind the bed, wishing he hadn't gotten so drunk. He was never going to live this down. He remembered the Fresher in the Superman suit and presumed that this must be who was now laid across him. He couldn't remember much more than that though. He didn't even know the guys name.

The mop of brown hair shook, and thin hands moved to the face that lay on Arthur's chest, rubbing the eyes. The shock seemed to kick in after the man had cleared his vision, and he squealed slightly, jumping out of the bed and wrapping the duvet around himself.

"Who the hell are you?" the guy asked, blushing as he shifted his eyes from Arthur's naked body and stared at the books on the wall above his bed "What the hell am I doing here?"

"Oh shit," Arthur said, "I was hoping you were going to be able to tell me..."


End file.
